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Sept. 29, 1925.

S. OTIS ET AL HEATER FOR OI L PIPE LINES INVENTORSI e 1' DELL; a GTw/QGW,

Filed June 10, 1922 ATTORNEY6 Patented Sept. 29, 1925;

' UNITED STATES! PATENT OFFICE.

' SPENCER OTIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND LESLIE 1B. GRAHAM, OEEAST CHICAGO,

' INDIANA.

HEATER non OIL-PIPE Lmn s.

. Application filed June 10, 1922. Serial No. 567,821. 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, SPENCER OTIS and Lnsmn B. GRAHAM, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Chicago, in

the county of Cook and State of Illinois, and

at East Chicago, in the county ofLake and State of Indiana, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Heaters for OiLPiEe Lines, of which the following is a speci cation.

This invention relates to'heaters for oil pipe lines and has for its object to provide a heating pipe within an oil conduit, and automatic means for supplying a heating medium thereto commensurately with the absorption of heat by the oil flow in the line.

It has heretofore been pro osed to circulate steam through a pipe enc osed within an oil pipe line for the ,purpose of keeping up the temperature of the oil to a degree at which it is sufficiently fluid for pumping, but, as heretofore arran ed, such systems have been uneconomical in that they involve a constant discharge of the heating medium. The present invention roceeds. upon the principle of supplying tl ie heating medium to the pipe within the oil pipe line under continuing pressure, so that it will be ready at all times to advance to the heating pipe, and so throttling the outlet of said heating pipe or a return pipe leading therefrom, and.

so controlling the throttle by the temperature of the returning heating medium that the heating medium will remain in the heat ing pipe until, by transfer of its heat to the oil, its temperature falls .to a predetermined degree, when the throttle will be automatically opened or increased in opening sufficiently to bring a new charge of heating medium into the heating pipe; or, with a proper balance or adjustment of the system,

the throttle opening willbe maintained at such a degree that the flow of heating" medium through the heating pipe will be more -or less constant and at such a rate as will permit it to give off its heat during its progress through the enclosed portion of the heat ing pipe. The invention also contemplates, in its preferred embodiment, the employment of: water as the heating vehicle and the use of means whereby the water will be auto matically returned to the boiler or source of heat periodically, and as it accumulates in volume sufiicient to initiate the action of a pump relied upon for its return.

stance, as'one leading to a pump house B and from said house to a tank C. Inasmuch as crude oil, particularly in cold weather, becomes sluggish and diiiicult to pump, it is desirable to maintain within the pipe line A means for keeping up the temperature of the oil flowing therethrough. To that end the present invention introduces a circulatory heating pipe 1 which may have its re turn leg 1*, as Well as its supply leg, en-

closed within the pipe; and this pipe is supplied from a boiler 2 of any suitable construction, which communicates therewith through a feed pi e 3 preferably provided with a pressure re ucing valve 4. In order economically to supply waterto the heating pipe 1, the water is returned to the boiler 2 after its heat is given ofi, but return flow and, consequently, outflow of the water is automatically governed by the giving up of the heat to the oil in the'pipe line, and to 50 accomplish this the return leg 1? of the heating pipe is connectedwith areturn pipe 5 that leads'to a tank 6, whence thewater is forced by apump 7 back into the boiler 2. Located between the return leg 1 and the return pipe 5 is a throttle valve 8, which opens automatically only when the temperature of returning water falls to such a degree as to indicate that additional hot water is reconstant flow of water commensurate with the fall in temperature from the inlet to the outlet end of the heating pipe, subject, of course, to such fluctuations or variations in the speed of flow as may be induced by variations in the heat absorption by the surrounding oil. 1

Preferably the pump 7 would not act constantly in returning the water from tank 6 to boiler 2, but periodically and only as the water in the tank accumulates to a prede:

v termined level; and to this end a fluid-holdvalve 16 1n steam pipe 17 connecting the enbe effectively mounted in the oil line I fold pipe 22.

ing counterbalance l2, communicating through a flexible pipe 13 with the tank 6 at a level upon the attainment. of which it is desired to have the pump operate, is suspended through a connector 14 from the end of a Wei hted lever 15,. which'controls the gine with the boiler, so that whenever the water reaches the predetermined level in the tank 6 the pump will operate to draw water through pipe 18 from the tank and deliver it through pipe 19 to the boiler, until the counterbalance 12 is emptied again, when the now relieved Weighted lever 15 will act to close the valve 16 and arrest the" action of the pump.

As suggested in Figure 2, the outflow leg 1 and return leg 1 of the heating pipe may pipe A by means of stanchions 20.

Preferably the heating plant will be located at an intermediate point along the pipe line and will have its water supply and return connections duplicated inorder to reduce the length of circulation and keep up the efiiciency of the heating operation. To

that end supply pipe 3 is connected by branch pipes 21 with du licate outflow and return legs 1, 1 of the eating pipe lying on opposite sides of the heating installation, and, similarly, the return flow pipe 5 will have its connections 10 and 11 duplicated and connected therewith through the mani- The, heating plant is advantageously located at or adjacent the pumping station B, and the branches of the heat-' ing pipes and connections are distributed on opposite sides of said station.

We claim: 1. An oil pipe line heating system, comprising heating pipes within the pipe line,

of June, 1922.

avsource of heating medium connected with said heating pipes, a return flow connection for said heating medium, and means controlling the passage of heating medium through said return flow connection, which is subject to the temperature of the returning medium.

2. In a heating system for oil pipe lines, a heating pipe enclosed in the line, a source of heating-medium connected with said pipe, a return passage also connected with said pipe, a thermostat in said return passage,

and a valve in said return passage controlling the flow therethrough and which is, in

turn, controlled by said thermostat.

3. In a heating system for oil pipe lines, a heating pipe enclosed in the pipe line subdivided into a plurality of units, a common source of heating medium connected with all of said heating units, and individual return flow connections for the respective heating units, having independent means for controlling the flow therethrough, which means are subject to the temperature effects of the heating medium.

4. A heating system for oil pipe lines and the like, said system comprising an oil container, a heating pipe within said container having charging and discharging connections, means for supplying a hot liquid heating medium to the charging connection, means for causing said heating medium to flow through said heating pipe and connections in volume proportional to resistance to said flow, means for varying said resistance located in the discharge connection,

and a thermostat responsive to heat effects of oil heating liquid which flows through the dium in said tank, which,'in turn, controls the operation of said pump.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this7th day SPENCER OTIS. LESLIE B. GRAHAM. 

